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Up early today and changed out the Power Stop Z23 pads that turned my rotors brown for the Power Stop Z26 pads. Sanded the rotors and cleaned with brake clean. Took my car out and did the bedding procedure. No noise and stops great.
Do it... Toss the Carbotechs and never look back. The amount of time you save cleaning your wheels will be WELL worth the 125 bucks the Powerstop Z26s cost, and they don't squeak, ever. You could sell your Carbotechs in the classifieds, they cost so much new that you could probably still get a decent price for them. Heck, I was even able to sell my Brembo pads. This I guarantee you... You'll never put the Carbotechs back on after swapping to PowerStops, so anything you get for the old Carbotechs will be a bonus.
Alright, I bought the Z26 front and back from The Brake Guys at $125. I'll try to sell the Carbotechs in the classifieds. I don't think I've put many miles on them, but they're still in good condition. Not sure how much I could sell them for, but I'll look what the going price is.
Up early today and changed out the Power Stop Z23 pads that turned my rotors brown for the Power Stop Z26 pads. Sanded the rotors and cleaned with brake clean. Took my car out and did the bedding procedure. No noise and stops great.
Wow! Immediate improvement to the color of those rotors!
Installed last week. Probably one of the best changes I've done other than adding the ECS Supercharger. Now I spend more time "behind the wheel" vs cleaning the wheels.
My latest Z26 update... These are pics after 600 miles of city driving. The close up shows the total dust, one swipe at 300 miles, and then next to it at 600 miles.
My unscientific comparison to the Carbotech 1521 I had previously... This amount of visible dust would be @200 miles vs. 600 with the Z26.
My subjective opinion is also that the Z26 dust is less visible for the amount and cleans off easier. The pic below is the most unflattering I could do with direct light. From 10 feet and normal light it's not very apparent.
Washed them this weekend, and most of the dust just sprays off with water. I'n a VERY happy camper.
My car has been in for a little cosmetic work but I had the Z26s installed at the same time. I'm concerned that when I pick it up there is really no place I can to the bedding routine until I get closer to home. Could this be a problem?
Won't be a problem. Biggest thing is being able to let them cool after the procedure by driving 10-15 without using the brakes. I love how the car gets confused and keeps going into performance shift mode every time you jam on the brakes and then accelerate back up to speed!!
Comparing two brands of low dusting pads with regard to rotor wear is rather silly. The issue is that low dusting pads will, by definition, wear down the rotors more quickly than the OEM Brembos. The dust tells you all you need to know. Something has to wear, and it's either going to be the pad or the rotor. If the pads aren't dusting, they are quite simply grinding down the rotor--simple laws of physics.
GVE, no offense, but the "eyeball and touch test" is not an approved test method for rotor wear. You didn't say it, but xp800's statement, based upon your "test," about one of them causing less rotor wear than the OEM Brembo pads is completely without foundation.
If I'm going to select a "low-dusting" pad, I'm going to take the one that produced more dust per GVE's dust test. Rotors are a lot more expensive than pads, and dusty wheels aren't going to ruin my day.
I am enjoying my Powerstop Z26 pads that I installed about a month ago. My experience is exactly as pictured above. Yes some dust but much much less than OEM and it is lighter and less adherent. I can drive the car a good few weeks before the wheels "must" be cleaned, where before with OEM one or 2 drives and they were a mess. The light dust is very easily cleaned with my new Griot's large flexible wheel brush. I'm not really worried about rotor wear, especially on a car I may drive only ~5 k miles per year. Rotors are cheap these days and when they get replaced I will get the upgraded new Z51 rotors or perhaps the Powerstop kit. But that won't be for a long time.
07-30-2016, 10:57 AM
